If you’re looking to build a new Ryzen 7000 system, the X670E Hero offers everything Zen 4 has to offer, including a PCIe 5.0 slot and two PCIe 5.0 M.2 sockets. The Hero has a modern design with improved visuals and continues to look like a premium part of his motherboards as high-end boards are generally more premium. In addition to the standard upgrades, Hero has a flagship-class audio solution with 2 USB 4 (40 Gbps) ports (12 total rear IO USB), integrated DAC, Wi-Fi 6E, and 2.5 GbE port. It contains. All in all, it’s an attractive motherboard packed with features for the equivalent price of $699.99.
As of this writing, Asus’ X670 product stack consists of 12 boards. You’ll see all the familiar names like Extreme, Hero, Gene, Creator, Gaming, TUF, Prime and Pro boards. Prices range from $269 (Prime X670-P) to $999 for the flagship Crosshair X670E Extreme. In short, there’s something for everyone here (except those who want to spend less than $269), including ITX and Micro-ATX boards and low-end options. Keep in mind that a truly low-end option for this platform is part of the B650 chipset line.
Along with all the necessary platform updates, the Hero comes with five M.2 sockets, three of which support PCIe 5.0 x4 speeds (one must use the included add-in card). there is). The board also has his six SATA ports for many legacy storage options. Wired networking is fast enough at 2.5 Gb, but other boards in this class include 10 GbE ports. In terms of performance, Hero is mixed with other early Ryzen 7000 results and doesn’t go overly fast or slow. That may change as we have more data, but for now, our testing with the AMD Ryzen 7950X shows this to be a performant option. Overclocking worked fine too, although it’s hardly worth it on AMD these days.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at the X670E Hero’s features and specifications to give you a better idea of how this motherboard compares to its competitors. For more information on platform features and changes, see our X670 Motherboards Overview article. After taking a look at some of these AM5 boards, let’s see if any of them deserve a spot on our best motherboards list. Before we get into all the details, here’s the full list of specs from the Asus website.
Specifications: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
| socket | LGA1718 |
| chipset | X670E |
| form factor | ATX |
| voltage regulator | 21 phases (18x 110A SPS MOSFET for Vcore, teamed) |
| video port | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| (2) USB4 | |
| USB port | (2) USB4 (40Gbps) Type-C |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (20Gbps) Type-C | |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-C | |
| (8) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) | |
| network jack | (1) 2.5GbE |
| audio jack | (5) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy Port/Jack | ✗ |
| Other Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (2) v5.0 (x16, x8/x8) |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x 1 | (1) v4.0 (x1) |
| Crossfire/SLI | AMD Crossfire |
| DIMM slots | (4) DDR5 6400+(OC), 128GB capacity |
| M.2 socket | (2) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| (2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) | |
| (1) AIC PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) / PCIe (up to 110mm) | |
| Supports RAID 0/1/10 | |
| U.2 port | ✗ |
| SATA port | (6) SATA3 6Gbps (supports RAID 0/1/10) |
| USB header | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2, Type-C (20Gbps, 60W PF/QC4+) |
| (2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) | |
| (3) USB v2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| fan/pump header | (8) 4-pin (CPU, CPU OPT, AIO Pump, Chassis, W_Pump) |
| RGB header | (3) aRGB Gen2 (3 pin) |
| (1) Aura GB (4 pin) | |
| diagnostic panel | (1) Q-code |
| (1) Q-LEDs | |
| Internal button/switch | Power, Flex, and Retry Buttons |
| SATA controller | (1) ASMEDIA ASM1061 |
| ethernet controller | (1) Intel I225-v (2.5GbE) |
| Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | Intel AX210 Wii-Fi 6E (2x2ax, MU-MIMO, 2.4/5/6GHz, 160MHz, BT 5.2) |
| USB controller | JHL8540 USB4 |
| HD audio codec | Realtek ALC4082 (ESS SABRE9218 Quad DAC) |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / DTS: Sound Unbound |
| guarantee | 3 years |
What’s in the Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero Box
In the box along with the motherboard, Asus includes a number of accessories designed to get your system up and running without having to make the trip to the store. Not primary, but AIC for additional PCIe 5.0 x4 slots (itesef above the two on the board). The rest is standard stuff like SATA and RGB cables, Wi-Fi antennas, USB stick with drivers. Below is a complete list of included accessories.
- ARGB RGB extension cable
- RGB extension cable
- (4) SATA 6Gb/s cables
- PCIe 5.0 M.2 card with heatsink
- M.2 screw package for PCIe 5.0 M.2 card
- Thermal pad for M.2
- ASUS Wi-Fi movable antenna
- (3) Rubber package for M.2 backplate
- Q-connector
- M.2 Q-Latch Package
- (3) M.2 Q-Latch package for M.2 backplate
- ROG Graphics Card Holder
- ROG keychain
- ROG sticker
- ROG Thank You Card
- USB drive containing utilities and drivers
- User guide
ROG Crosshair X670E Hero design
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The X670E Hero receives a nice visual update from the Crosshair VIII Hero. The VRM heatsink looks bigger and has a larger surface area with large mitered slots cut out, and his IO cover on the back features larger RGB elements (the only RGB elements), along with chrome crosshair branding. The bottom of the board extends the heatsink to the audio section. The M.2 socket on top gets a notable heatsink upgrade to support the upcoming PCIe 5.0 drives.
The board’s style stays true to the Z690 Hero, but it’s a better version with an update that minimizes the polarized dot-matrix style lighting seen on Intel boards. All in all, this is a very nice looking option that looks like a premium part while not distracting from anything inside the case.
We’ll start with the top half and take a closer look at the RGB elements. Here, RGB shines through the screen to give you a top design. Asus has mostly moved away from the dot-matrix design and replaced it with an updated look that shows the branding of the hero and his ROG. The lighting doesn’t dominate your case, but it’s bright enough to show what else is inside.
Above the VRM heatsink are two 8-pin EPS power connectors (one required) for powering the processor. The VRM heatsinks that surround them are heavy and have large cutouts to increase surface area and improve cooling. Additionally, both VRM heatsinks are connected via heatpipes, so the load is shared between them. As we can see later in the test, we had no problem keeping the power delivery bit cool during our stress testing of the Ryzen 9 7950X CPU.
To the right of the socket area are four single-sided locking non-hardened DRAM slots supporting speeds up to DDR5-6600(OC) and capacities up to 128GB. Not a big deal, but the significantly cheaper boards (Aorus Master and Taichi) have enhanced DRAM slots, so I’d like to see enhanced DRAM slots here.
Just above the DRAM slots are the first three (out of eight) 4-pin fan/pump headers. All fans support PWM and DC devices, CPU and chassis fans are controlled by Q-Fan. W_PUMP+ and AIO_PUMP run at full speed by default. Header output varies from 1A/12W (CPU/Chassis and AIO_PUMP headers), while W_pump+ headers support 3A/36W. It has enough headers and enough power to run cooling from the motherboard.
Below that are the first two RGB headers. In this case, 4-pin Aura RGB and 3-pin ARGB. Two other 3-pin ARGB headers are on the bottom of the board. Down the far right is a 24-pin ATX connector for powering the motherboard,[スタート],[フレックス],and[再試行]I come across a button. There’s also a 6-pin PCIe connector that, when plugged in, supports up to 60W of charging (PF/QC4+) via the front-panel USB Type-C header (just below the auxiliary power connection). A convenient PCIe slot Q-Release button to unlock the PCIe slot. Graphics cards and large M.2 heatsinks often block access to the latch, so this is a nice addition.
Our heroes are powered by the most powerful hardware we’ve ever seen. Power is supplied to the Infineon Digi+ ASP2205 PWM controller from the EPS connector. Then move on to 18 110A SIC850A MOSFETs (that’s 1,980 amps!). This is beyond the flagship’s ability to handle his 7950X. Coupled with a huge heatsink, you don’t have to worry about power delivery.
Go to the bottom half of the board and start on the left side which houses the audio section. Hidden under the shroud is his Realtek ALC4082 codec, branded Asus. As you may know, on paper the 4082 codec is the best codec available for these boards. In addition to the flagship codec, there is an ESS SABER9218 DAC and a dedicated audio cap. The audio circuitry here is one of the best you’ll find on any motherboard.
In the middle of the board are some M.2 sockets and three PCIe slots. Starting with the PCIe slots, the top two full-length slots are connected through the CPU and offer PCIe 5.0 bandwidth. The top slot runs at up to x16 speed, the second slot runs at up to x8 speed. Note that if anything is populated in the 2nd slot (including the M.2 AIC), they will be classified as x8/x8, but they are PCIe 5.0 x8 which is effectively equivalent to PCIe 4.0 x16 please. The small slot at the bottom feeds lanes from the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x1.
Hero features four M.2 sockets on the board itself, with the fifth coming from an M.2 add-in card (AIC). Onboard, all sockets support up to 80mm PCIe modules and use M.2 Q latches (rather than the common tiny screws) to secure the modules, but at different speeds. Sockets M2_1 and M2_2 feed lanes from the CPU and run at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speeds. M2_3/4 gets lanes from the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) speeds. The add-in card provides the owner with another his PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 socket (up to 110mm), for a total of 3 PCIe 5.0 M.2, or the board and AIC together for a total of 5 M.2 Become. In addition to the 6 SATA ports, 11 drives can run simultaneously. NVMe and SATA sockets/ports support RAID0/1/10 modes when performing software RAID.
Along the right edge past the chipset heatsink, we come across another chassis fan header, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector, and six SATA ports. Several headers are exposed at the bottom of the board. You can find the usual ones including extra USB ports, RGB headers, etc. There are also headers for water flow and water temperature sensors for use with custom water loops. Below is the complete list from left to right.
- front panel audio
- (3) 4-pin fan header
- (2) 3-pin ARGB headers
- (3) USB 2.0 headers
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
- water pump header
- Water temperature in/out header
- temperature sensor header
- front panel
Hero’s rear IO comes with a pre-themed IO plate with easy-to-read white labels on each port. The rear IO has a staggering 12 USB ports, more than enough for most people. From left to right, the BIOS flashback and CMOS reset buttons are displayed first. For video there is both an HDMI port and a USB4 (40 Gbps) Type-C port to the right of it. All red USB ports are 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), while the other two Type-C ports are running Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) respectively. Next up are the Intel 2.5 GbE ports, Wi-Fi antenna connections, and a full 5-plug and SPDIF audio stack.
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